The Princess's Revenge Chapter 46

Valencia’s POV

Dr. Vance's trembling hand pointed toward the herb storage area. "Medicine cabinet. Top shelf. Small silver bottles labeled 'Moon's Grace.' That's the wolfsbane antidote."

I rushed to the cabinet he had indicated. My hands shook as I searched through the bottles on the top shelf. Finally, I found what I was looking for - several small silver bottles with elegant script reading "Moon's Grace."

I grabbed three bottles and hurried back to Dr. Vance. "How much do I give you?"

"Half a bottle," he said weakly. "Same for everyone else."

I helped him sit up slightly and poured half the contents of one bottle into his mouth. He swallowed it with difficulty, then leaned back against the stone table.

"Give me a few minutes," he said. "The antidote works quickly, but I need to rest."

I took the remaining bottles and went to Xander first. His eyes were closed, and for a terrifying moment I thought he might be unconscious.

"Xander," I said, shaking his shoulder gently.

His eyes opened slowly. "Is that the antidote?"

"Yes. Dr. Vance says half a bottle." I helped him drink the medicine, then moved on to Delphine.

She was still conscious but barely. "Here," I said, supporting her head as I poured the antidote into her mouth. "This should help."

I moved through the room systematically, giving the antidote to every collapsed servant and helping hand.

I saw Dr. Vance's face slowly get back to normal, so I walked over to the door to grab the wooden cup for him to test. Xander was watching everything I did, it seemed he was really worried about what the results would be.

I set the wooden cup carefully on work table, my hands trembling slightly. "Dr. Vance, can you test this wine? I think it might be poisoned."

Dr. Vance struggled to sit up straighter, still weak from the antidote's effects. He took the cup with shaking hands and brought it close to his nose. After a long moment of careful examination, he looked up at me with grim confirmation.

"Wolfsbane," he said definitively. "I can smell it clearly. This wine has been heavily dosed with wolfsbane powder."

My heart sank like a stone. The evidence was undeniable now. Dorian really was the spy.

Xander slowly approached us, still using the wall for support. His face was pale but his eyes were sharp with alertness. "Is it poisoned?" he asked, his voice tight.

I looked at him with a serious expression and nodded. The weight of what this meant crashed over me like a wave.

"We need to talk," I said quietly, glancing around at the wounded pack members lying nearby. "Somewhere private."

I pointed toward the small workroom adjacent to the main treatment area. Xander and Dr. Vance both understood immediately, their expressions growing grave as they nodded.

We made our way slowly into the workroom. The small space was cramped with medical supplies - surgical knives, bone saws, tooth extractors, and other iron tools lined the walls.

Dr. Vance closed the door behind us and turned to face me. "Who did this?" he asked bluntly.

I took a deep breath, knowing that what I was about to say would shock them both. "I believe it was Beta Dorian."

Both men stared at me in complete disbelief.

"That's a serious accusation," Xander said slowly. "What evidence do you have?"

I began explaining everything I had observed and overheard. "This morning, Delphine told me that Dorian spent the entire early morning in the kitchen, personally supervising all the food preparation. A servant told me that when Elias requested wine for Alpha Logan, Dorian stopped the servant from filling the wine bag and did it himself."

Dr. Vance's face grew pale. "You think he poisoned Logan's wine specifically?"

"Yes," I replied. "And there's more. Alpha Logan suspected Dorian of being a traitor even before he left. He told me to watch Dorian while he was gone."

Xander's expression turned ice cold. He fixed me with a piercing stare, his voice dropping to a threatening tone. "Are you willing to swear to the Moon Goddess that everything you've said is true?"

I looked at him seriously, then turned to include Dr. Vance in my gaze. "I stake my life on it," I said firmly. "Everything I have told you is the truth. I swear to the Moon Goddess."

The silence that followed was deafening. Both men studied my face intently. Xander's jaw clenched with fury. "If what you're saying is true, then the spy who helped the rogues bypass our patrols and sentries is probably him too."

He began pacing the small room, his anger building. "Yesterday when Amara was just released from the dungeons, I went to meet her. On the way, I encountered Dorian and he insisted we patrol together."

My blood turned cold as the implications hit me. "So this rogue attack was just a diversion? He poisoned the breakfast to weaken everyone?"

"Not the breakfast," Dr. Vance interrupted grimly. "The water well."

Xander and I both stared at him in shock.

"Wolfsbane is highly soluble in water," Dr. Vance explained. "And water doesn't dilute its effects. If he put wolfsbane powder directly into the well, everyone who drank from it would be poisoned."

Xander slammed his fist against the wall. "That bastard! No wonder the well looked completely untouched during the rogue attack. We naturally didn't pay attention to it. We've been played!"

I frowned, trying to understand. "But why didn't he just poison the well from the beginning? Why wait until now?"

"Because the well is guarded twenty-four hours a day by warriors," Xander replied. "Someone is always stationed there."

"But he could have found an excuse to send the guard away," I said. "After all, he's the Beta. He has the authority to reassign guards."

A terrible thought suddenly jumped into my mind. The full horror of the situation crashed over me like an icy wave. I stared at Xander with growing terror.

Xander's eyes met mine, and I could see he had reached the same horrifying conclusion. His face went white with shock and rage.

"Could it be," he said in a voice filled with dread, "that this was all designed to kill Alpha Logan?"

The words hung in the air between us like a death sentence.

"Fuck," Xander breathed. "That bastard planned everything."

My heart was pounding so hard I thought it might burst. "Alpha Logan went to Eagle's Beak," I said, my voice trembling. "The rogue he interrogated said five hundred Aldermere elite troops would cross the river there in three days."

Both Dr. Vance and Xander stared at me in complete shock.

"Five hundred troops?" Dr. Vance gasped.

"But if Dorian is the traitor," Xander said slowly, his voice growing angrier, "then that information could be fake. The whole thing could be a trap."

His jaw clenched with fury. "Last night when we captured those rogues, Dorian assigned me the weakest warriors. I thought it was strange at the time, but that's exactly why we managed to take prisoners alive. Did he plan that too?"

I thought back to Dorian's contradictory behavior. "He seemed so eager to question them himself," I said. "But when you actually captured them, he looked terrified. Like he hadn't expected it to happen."

"That fucking asshole," Xander snarled. "He wanted the prisoners to give false information. HE DECEIVED EVERYONE!"

The room felt like it was spinning around me. If Logan had drunk the poisoned wine before riding into an ambush, he would be facing enemies while stripped of his wolf's power.

I said desperately. "We have to get to Eagle's Beak and save him." I said desperately.

"With what army?" Xander demanded. "Half the pack is poisoned, the other half is too weak to fight. And we don't even know where Dorian is or what else he's planning."